Scott Alexander,the chief executive of disability service provider Vivid,said there were numerous examples of the NDIA “tightening the screws” last year,and providers now had to push to attend the planning meeting and come prepared for “much more strident pushback and resistance by the planners”.

“Independent assessments might be on the backburner,but the fact they are seeking actively to reduce the amount of money in plans hasn’t gone away and that fits in with the rhetoric at government level,” Mr Alexander said.

Ms Reynolds last year warned theNDIS faces serious sustainability issues and needs to be reformed.

Kynd.com.au chief executive Michael Metcalfe,whose company provides a platform to match NDIS participants and providers,said the cost-cutting was obvious on the ground.

“At the individual level,not everyone’s plans are being decreased but when a participant does have their funding cut,it’s a big impact on the participant,the family and also the support workers who rely on that consistency and that certainty,” Mr Metcalfe said.

Mr Metcalfe said the NDIS was granting two- or three-year plans during the pandemic,but had reverted to annual plans allowing more frequent review. In some cases,plans were being cut if they were not fully used – even if the underspending was a result of COVID-19 lockdowns,outbreaks and vaccination mandates.

Mr Metcalfe said participants would be feeling a double whammy with costs increasing just as their plans are decreasing. The past year saw numerous increases in the NDIS Price Guide,setting maximum pricing per hour for various services,which meant participants’ funding did not stretch as far,he said.

Mr Alexander said inadequate funding was having a severe impact on one of his clients,a young woman Shaniah – whose mother asked for her last name to be withheld – living in supported independent living in northern Victoria near the NSW border.

Shaniah has an intellectual disability and a history of self harm,and she lives with another young woman with a similar profile and similar needs. Shaniah,whose plan started last November after she moved out of her mother’s home,is approved for a care level with three participants to one provider. Meanwhile,the other young woman,whose plan started several years ago,is approved for two-to-one care.

Mr Alexander said if the NDIS did not review Shaniah’s plan,she would run out of funding three months early.

He said the two women were placed together because the NDIA had asked for the accommodation to be organised first. Now Shaniah could be forced to move again,either back with her mother or into another group home.

“It’s gone exceptionally well – she is well settled and they are good cohabitants in the home,” Mr Alexander said. “I’m told the mother is adamant Shaniah can’t come home because they can’t handle her. She has a history of self harming when she gets unsettled.”

Opposition spokesman for the NDIS Bill Shorten said Labor had been warning plans were being slashed for months and the government should provide “transparency around these secret cuts” at the upcoming federal budget.

“This quarterly report validates hundreds of people with disability and their families who are experiencing unexplained plan cuts but who are being gaslit by the Morrison government,” Mr Shorten said.

“The cuts have been particularly targeted at children with a diagnosis of autism,people with psycho-social disabilities and participants who need supported accommodation.”

Mr Shorten said a Labor government would investigate the mismanagement of the NDIS under the Coalition.